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Cophetua, King ([Leg. & Folk.])   Quick reference

A Dictionary of Reference and Allusion (3 ed.)

..., King [Leg. & Folk.] A legendary African king who was unmarried and had come to disdain women. One day when he was out riding he saw a beggar-maid ‘clad all in gray’, fell in love with her and proposed marriage. Their marriage was happy and successful. The story is told in the ballad ‘King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid’ in Thomas Percy 's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry ( 1765 ). > A man who falls in love with a woman instantly and proposes marriage immediately ‘He'll come and see you,’ said Sylvia. ‘No, he won't,’ said Eiluned. ‘Why not?’ said...

Cophetua, King   Reference library

The Oxford Companion to English Literature (7 ed.)

..., King A legendary king in Africa, who cared nothing for women until he fell in love with a beggar maid ‘all in gray’. He married her and together they lived ‘a quiet life during their princely reign’. The tale is told in one of the ballads included in Percy 's Reliques , where the maid's name is given as Penelophon. Shakespeare, in Love's Labour's Lost (IV. i), gives it as Zenelophon. There are other references to the story in Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet (II. ii) and 2 Henry IV (V. iii), in Jonson 's Every Man in His Humour (III. iv),...

‘King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid’   Reference library

Jeremy Barlow

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)

...King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid’ , a ballad title mentioned in several plays, including Love’s Labour’s Lost 4.1.65; Romeo and Juliet 2.1.14; Richard II 5.3.78; 2 Henry IV 5.3.103. Jeremy...

Cophetua, King   Quick reference

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)

..., King a legendary African king who fell in love with and married a beggar girl; the story is told in one of the ballads in Percy 's Reliques ( 1765 ), and was the subject of one of Burne-Jones's paintings, King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid ( 1884...

ballad   Reference library

Jeremy Barlow

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)

..., a narrative strophic song, often traditional. Shakespeare frequently quotes from, or alludes to, ballads and broadside ballads , e.g. ‘King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid’ . Jeremy...

Cophetua   Reference library

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)

... An imaginary king of Africa who fell in love with a beggar maid ‘all in gray’ named Penelophon (Shakespeare’s Zenelophon in Love’s Labour’s Lost , IV, i ( 1594 )) and married her. They lived happily and were widely lamented at death. The story is given in the ballad ‘King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid’ in percy’s reliques ( 1765 ) and is referred to in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (II, i ( 1594 )) and Richard II (V, iii ( 1595 )). A fine artistic representation may be seen in Sir Edward Burne-Jones ’ painting King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid ...

Burne‐Jones, Sir Edward Coley (1833–98)   Reference library

The Oxford Companion to English Literature (7 ed.)

...poem) divided critical opinion when they were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 ; some deplored their ‘unhealthy’ sexual ambiguity. He was profoundly hostile to the materialism and mechanism of the 19th century. His best‐known works (e.g. The Golden Stairs and King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid , 1884 ) are often set in dreamlike worlds far removed from the present, and many (e.g. Pygmalion and the Image and The Briar Rose ) have literary subjects. He designed tapestry and stained glass for Morris and Co., and illustrations for the Kelmscott...

Maclise, Daniel (25 January 1806)   Reference library

Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators

...of a Gentleman (13¾ × 9¾ ins/35 × 25 cm) GBP 1,725 London, 10 June 1999 : King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid (oil on canvas, 47 × 73 ins/120 × 186 cm) GBP 320,000 Dublin, 8 Dec 1999 : Saxon Almsgiving (oil on panel, 12 × 16 ins/30 × 41 cm) IEP 9,000 Dublin, 13 Dec 2000 : Dear Harp of my Country (oil on canvas, 21 × 17 ins/53 × 43 cm) IEP 18,000 London, 17 May 2001 : Fortune Teller (oil on canvas, 40 × 33 ins/102 × 84 cm) GBP 22,000 London, 25 Oct 2001 : Reign of King Richard the Third ( 1854 , pencil and watercolour heightened with white, 20 ×...

Burne-Jones, Edward Coley (Baronet, Sir) (28 August 1833)   Reference library

Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators

..., oil on canvas) Birmingham (Mus. and AG): important collection of work, including King Mark and the Belle Iseult (oil on canvas); An Idyll ( 1862 , oil on canvas); The Merciful Knight ( 1863 , watercolour and gouache); The Star of Bethlehem ( 1888-1891 , watercolour, oil, tempera and gouache); The Last Judgement (oil on canvas, three panels); The Wizard ( 1896-1898 , oil on canvas, unfinished); The Troy Triptyque (oil on canvas, unfinished); King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid (watercolour); The Three Graces (pastel, study for ‘The Venus...